The trials and tribulations of training a Pembroke Welsh Corgi and Swedish Vallhund for agility.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

It's been a week...

It's been a week...a busy week...which explains why it's been a week since I last posted.

LaMesa is now 12 weeks old and will go for her 12-week shots tomorrow at Gainesway Animal Hospital. In the past week Dally has accepted the puppy into the fold. We finally had playtime with eachother this past Friday. I was excited to see Dally warm up to Mesa and play with her like she would a co-hort. They even played tag while doing the Dally-patented "Rumple Run" through my small apartment. Seeing the two of them play together warmed me to the fact this could definitely work.

On Sunday, Matt, Dally, Mesa, and I loaded up into my truck and headed South to hit the last day of the Nashville Dog Training Club's agility trial in Franklin, Tenn. We had to miss Saturday due to the ice/snow storm that hit Tennessee, but by 4 am Sunday, the roads were fine for me to drive the 3.5 hours down. Well...that is until we hit Nashville, and the roads were horrible. Either way, we got there and Dally had two great runs! She ran fast in her Standard, but we got two refusals due to her slowing down before a jump because she had to poop. (She wouldn't poop on the ice outside.) I somehow talked her out of relieving herself on the course and we finished more than two seconds under standard course time, even with the two slowdowns! I was thrilled!! Jumpers saw a slow start, but a sprint to the finish of a great run! We stopped the clock just a second over standard course time. No Qs this day, but I was so happy with how she ran without any training/trials since the first weekend of November.

It was also Mesa's first agility trial. Matt was put in charge of her, which meant taking her for walks, letting her be played with and loved on by others, etc. She was a rock star. In that one day, we had her leash-trained and trained to go up and do stairs. Strangers and strange dogs alike played with her, and she was fearless. A lot of people were impressed by her attitude and the way she is put together, which made me feel good. I was even told she could be something special on the agility field for me. If only our debut wasn't more than year away.

For now, we are going to start working on sits, downs, and stays. I'm also trying to work on the clicker with Mesa. Dally had a bad experience with a clicker this fall when I accidentally flicked her nose while treating and clickering her. She was so scarred by that, that she cowers every time she hears the clicker--even a quiet one. I thought maybe watching the puppy get treated and clickered would make her be jealous enough to want to be treated too. Nope, not so much. If anyone has any tips on what I can do with Dally, please share!

I'm also going to try to do things differently with the puppy by teaching tricks and doing the clicker. However, I need to read up on this stuff, so if anyone has any recommendations, I'd greatly appreciate it.

LaMesa's Agility Countdown

Stump Kid Mom

I am an animal enthusiast--love training and showing horses and dogs. I started training dog agility in late 2007 and started competing in 2008. This blog is chronicles life and training with Dally, my 9-year-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and LaMesa, my 4-year-old Swedish Vallhund.